A New Kind of Reality
by Hazel Ashwood
Summary: What if Loki was imprisoned by Odin after he made the mask? What if an ordinary girl caught his eye? Read and find out.
1. the emerald necklace

Disclaimer: I wish, but I own nothing except Hazel, Matt and Harriet.

It was an unseasonably cold and cloudy day, that late summer's eve. But he observed that she was out running anyways. And once again, she was underdressed for the cold weather. Loki groaned inwardly as he thought to himself, while watching her from above, _when will she learn? She knows that this will only make her even sicker. She's a idiot for even being out in this kind of weather either she doesn't notice, or she's a bigger fool than I thought she was, because a storm's blowing in. And it's going to be a big one._

She was fighting for breath as she tried to finish her last two miles before her parents got home clutching a stitch in her side, they didn't like her running around the country-side alone, while managing to remain completely oblivious to the angry black clouds rolling in over her head. A thought flashed through her mind._ Why is running so hard today?_ She thought, _I better not be sick again, that would be the third time this month, though with my luck I probably am. A _sudden burst of thunder startled her, so absorbed had she been in her own thoughts and she tripped over a tree root that had been as good as invisible to her. She was sent flying before she fell back to earth with a yelp where she landed on her head before she'd had a chance to react; she tumbled head over heels as the world turned black.

He was slowly striding up to Odin, the All-father's throne when he said, "Dad, let me go free for just ten minutes so I can rescue the mortal girl. She's drowning. Let me go save her." "Why should I let you save her?"__laughed Odin**. "**If you let me go to her,"bargained Loki, "I will resign to my fate of being imprisoned in the lower heavens, unpleasant and unfair as it may be, and never bother you again, which I'm sure would make both of us very happy. "And how am I to believe what you are saying now when you have failed at every other task you have been giving?"__sneered his father.

"Dad**," **answered Loki, spitting out the word like rotted meat, "I think we both know how this will turn out if we keep at it like this," he continued his light brown eyes narrowed in barely suppressed anger. "You'll yell at me, informing me once again what a poor excuse for a son I am, I'll tell you what a bad father YOU are, we'll argue, and then I'll storm out and sneak down to Earth anyways. So really,"smirked Loki, beginning to sound sarcastic, "I'm actually being very polite coming here and asking your permission to go down. And,"he added, his voice taking back its razor tone. "Every single second we spend arguing right now is one second closer to the minute that girl goes over the waterfall, and hits the rocks. So I suggest you let me go and save yourself all of this trouble,"finished Loki, his eyes glinting with both anger and triumph. At this, Odin stared at his son; very aware of the precious seconds ticking past. Finally he said,** "**For your courage, you may go. But only for ten minutes."

But before Odin had even finished his sentence, Loki was down on Earth, shifting into the form of a great cartoonish-looking heron and diving down to save the girl just as she went over the edge of the roaring waterfall. "Hold on!" said Loki through a clenched beak as he grabbed the girl out of the air with his talons just before she hit the unforgiving rocks that had awaited her at the bottom.

Just then the rain started, it came down in great angry sheets and Loki lost his already precarious balance on the air and both he and the girl tumbled down to the grassy banks on the other side and rolled to a stop. "You're safe now," said Loki as he shifted back into human form. He started to walk away but before he had gotten even ten feet, a thought crossed his mind, _I can't leave her out in the rain like this; she could get sick, and besides no matter how you look at it, there's no possible way that that one trip could have carried her all the way down here, I better carry her back up._

And with that thought, he changed once again, into the form of a huge cartoonish-looking panther, with a large jaw, gigantic paws and a flicking tail. He then heaved the girl onto his back and jumped from ledge to ledge until he came to a tree that was conveniently believably close to where she had originally fallen.

Here Loki set her down under its large spreading branches and shifted back, once again, to his human form. He then partially dried the girl's t-shirt and jeans as much as he could without it being too suspicious. After that was done, he slowly took off his precious, ancient necklace and placed it by the girl's head. _Something for her to remember me by, _Loki thought kindly, _but mostly to mix things up, its way too boring up there anyways, there's no one to prank, _the god added with a quiet chuckle. Just then his timer started to go off with its ever annoying beeping. Grimacing, Loki started back up to his prison and his sure to be sneering father. _Finally,_ thought Loki to himself smiling, _the perfect time to teach that pompous fool a thing or two, and I have all the time in the world. _And he disappeared into the mist.

"Ohhhh …" she groaned as she rolled over and rubbed the painful knot on the side of her head "how'd I get this?"she wondered aloud**,** and then she winced as a splatter of icy rainwater fell mockingly from the wide, spreading branches over her head to land on her already cold neck. But as she raised her hand to wipe it off, her other arm brushed against something that felt strangely cool, like metal almost.

The rain on her neck forgotten, she held it up to her face to look at it. Well, it was metal but it was also like no design she had ever seen before, except maybe in an antique shop, it looked foreign and it was shaped like a diamond, but instead of having two sharp points for a top and bottom, it had three, two on top and one on bottom, and the sharp sides were rounded. On each side it also had two triangular holes, with a dark circular emerald set in-between them, polished to a shine that was only enhanced by the extra water on it. The pendant was strung on a short, black, leathery-feeling cord.

When her thumb touched it a sudden image flashed in her mind, a man, she thought, of average height and slight build with spiky hair wearing a black leather overcoat, seemingly average, nothing special, but no. This man was different. There was an air of mystery to him, his face in shadow, and the edges of his form blurred. And then she was back under the tree, wet and cold.

The girl hit her head in frustration, and then winced in pain at the forgotten knot.After the pain faded to a dull throb, out of habit, she glanced at her watch to make sure that the water hadn't damaged it and saw the time.** "**What?!"She exclaimed seeing that it was 5:50. "I better get back home, quick because if mom and dad are already home, they'll kill me! Or at least ground me and forbid me to date until I'm married."The girl added as an afterthought. Then after dusting herself off and making sure that nothing was out of place, she ran into the rain, tripping but catching herself many times as she hurriedly sprinted the remaining mile to her two-story stone and brick house ducking so that she was almost bent over double. As if that could stop the rain from hitting her.

Once there, she fumbled with her keys and quietly unlocked the back door and slipped in, trying to make as little noise as possible. She cocked her head and listened for any sounds, hearing none she let herself slump against the wall and breath a sigh of relief. Suddenly she felt something brush up against her leg. "Ahh!"She exclaimed, jumping at least a foot into the air then she turned around too see…her cat purring deeply and rubbing against her leg.

She breathed a sigh of relief, "I thought you were one of my parents, though what they would be doing down there I don't know,"then the girl picked up the purring cat and cuddled him. Then she carried him to her room and gently set him down on the bed while she stripped off her saturated clothes and threw them in the laundry hamper. She slipped on a pair of sleek, Japanese-styled pants and a loose Mexican-printed yellow shirt that horribly clashed with each other.

After she was changed, she dramatically fell onto her soft bed and examined the talisman (what else could you call it?) and pondered aloud, "oh, Zane! I'm so confused! Who is that guy I saw? And why did I see him? Oh my ashes, I sure hope he's not a stalker, which would be kind of creepy, they're weird. Though at least he's not fat."here Zane was staring at her, "oh don't worry silly, no need to be jealous,"she laughed, stroking his ears. "I'm not interested in him; over-weight stalkers just naturally scare me more than slim ones. They are just more intimating. Ugh, but this is all just so weird." She continued, returning to her original topic.

"If I understood even half of this mess I'd be happy, oh but whom am I kidding? I wouldn't want to understand just half of this! I'm too curious for that. Though half would be at least a tiny bit better than none. Then maybe I could figure out the rest."

Zane rubbed his sleek head against her shoulder seemingly sympathizing with her. Suddenly a happy thought came to the girl as she sat on her bed slowly stroking Zane. _Oh_, _I forgot! _She remembered. _Mom and dad are both working until seven for the rest of the week! And tonight they're stopping at the store too! _"Yay!"She exclaimed aloud. "Now I don't have to worry about either one of them finding me running! At least this week. Neither one of them will be home until at least seven-thirty. That means tomorrow I can go have another look around where I found the talisman!"she finished with all the hints of a smile beginning to show on her soft face. It was too late for her to go and have a look that night, so she down into her bed to examine the talisman a little longer, turning it over again and again as she wondered where it had come from.

After that got old, she just lay back on the bed absent-mindedly stroking Zane's sleek pelt, the talisman's cord wrapped twice around her wrist as she daydreamed about the mysterious man whom her mind connected the appearance of the talisman to. She pondered what he looked like, what his personality was, and generally drove herself crazy.

She allowed herself to lay there for a few minutes, listening to the cracks of thunder, and watching the flashes of lightening as they danced across her sea-blue room. Then she dragged herself off of her bed and went to prepare what dinner her meager cooking skills would allow. The time seemed to fly by because the next thing she knew, the gentle hum of the garage doors penetrated her thoughts.

Matt and Harriet Ambi. She always thought fondly of her parents. But both of them worked long hours and rarely had any spare time to spend with her. Every morning they were gone before she was even up. Though her mother made breakfast for her whenever she could, this wasn't very often. And the meals their daughter made for herself were rarely half as healthy as what her mother prepared for her. As often as not she would just catch some pop tarts and a carton of milk at school in the mornings. It was a good thing that she ran so much.

She might miss out on a lot of things, but milk was not one of them. She must have drunk at least half a quart every day, but this did not made up for her lack of nutrition. Dinners were rarely much better than the other meals. Taco Bell and McDonalds were well known names at her house. To try to make up for this, her mother would go to great lengths to cook delicious, well-balanced meals on the weekends. Occasionally her dad would even pitch in and help. But this was only Monday night and any hopes of good tasting; nutritious food would have to be postponed for another four days, though today she had gone to the trouble to make dinner for the three of them. Tonight's dinner happened to be pork chops with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables on the side.

The girl rushed to the laundry room door to greet her parents and help unload the groceries as they came inside. "Hey mom! Hey Dad!"She called as she opened the garage door, "welcome home! Did you both have a nice day at work?"** "**Yes Hazel, I had a good day,"__replied her mother, choosing to answer first, "it went by fast and before I knew it I was pulling up the driveway."__"Glad to hear it," Hazel replied turning to her dad, "and how was your day dad?"

"Well,"__answered her father, drawing it out, "my day went similar to your mothers, only it's a relief to all of us that these temperatures are finally dropping, it makes the work in the warehouse much easier. And if we're lucky, we will be done with inventory next week."** "**That's great dad!" Hazel exclaimed in return, giving him a big hug. "We'll all be really glad to have you back home earlier. And you too mom."__She added, turning to her mother, since she could start coming home at a regular time the following week also

But as Hazel stood there and smiled and then helped with the groceries. Little did she know how much her life would soon change.


	2. out of focus

Disclaimer: I wish, but I own nothing but Hazel, Matt, Harriet and Emily. At first I wasn't going to continue this, but you guys convinced me. I'm introducing Loki slowly into the story line, and you'll see a lot more of him next chapter.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Hazel's alarm clock sounded loudly (very loudly). She groaned loudly as she lay on her bed. Covering her head with a pillow before fumbling with the buttons on the top of her Mario alarm clock for at least a minute before finally finding the one that shut off the beeping. It had become so loud that Zane, her cat, tried to claw it into submission.

He was looking pretty pleased with himself when the alarm finally stopped.

_Think you stopped the alarm now do you? _Thought Hazel, way too asleep too actually bother with talking.

"Ugh,"she groaned before she rolled out of her bed. Literally. Rolled out of it. She somehow managed to forget almost on a daily basis that her bed was not even with the floor. She stood up again unusually quick with the impression that someone was watching her.

Looking around self-consciously, Hazel came to the conclusion, that no one was around she knew of to see her but her cat.

This impression, that someone was watching her, had been happening increasingly often ever since she had found that weird looking necklace a month ago. Hazel wondered if someone had put one of those little high-tech cameras on the necklace to spy on whoever found it.

_No, _she thought to herself, _that's ridiculous, though if somebody had put a camera on it, it would have been the FBI (_Federal Buro of Idiocy). _That would be interesting though, I wonder how someone could even make a camera that small, I mean, I know they make them I just don't know how-. _

Her meaningless thoughts were interrupted when Zane started to bat at her pajama leg with his front paws, signaling that he was ready for her to feed him. "O.k., you big hotshot**,**"answered Hazel, yawning, "I guess I could get you some breakfast, and then me some too." She then walked sleepily down the hallway and down the stairs to their rustic, log cabin like kitchen.

She swiped a can of A Cats Delight from a lower cupboard and scraped it into Zane's food dish and then re-filled his water dish while he had his breakfast. "And now for me,"Hazel announced, clapping her hands together, "what shall it be this morning? A bagel perhaps? Or maybe frozen French toast? How could I ever choose? They all sound so good!"She declared sarcastically, pretending to be a morning person, which she was not. "Eh, I guess I'll have a bagel, I too lazy this morning to put anything in the toaster."

So she grabbed a pre-cut bagel from the pantry and spread some strawberry cream cheese on it. Slapping both halves together again to make a sandwich, Hazel bit into it with straight white teeth. She grabbed a glass from a cupboard, poured in milk and added an ice cube.

Sitting at the mahogany breakfast table, Hazel thought, _wow, this is such a healthy breakfast I'm surprised that I'm not six feet tall right now, _as she looked at the bagel sandwich and glass of milk. _Oh, well,_ and dismissing the thought, she wolfed down the bagel, washing it down with great gulps of milk before hurrying of to the shower.

Hazel took a quick shower and then dried her hair and hurriedly pulled on a sweatshirt that had '_oh sorry, did you say something? I was too busy ignoring you'_ on its front and a pair of jeans before saying good-bye to Zane, grabbing her backpack and Spanish book and running out the door and down the hill to catch the bus before it left without her.

Once on the bus she sat down at her normal seat, in front of her best friend Emily Kerford. And speaking of Emily, "hey Hazel!"She called out as Hazel approached her seat, "how was your weekend?"

"Eh, good, good, can't really complain, I ate, slept, lived. All the basics. How about you?"

"Pretty much the same,"answered Emily, "though at least _I _showered."

"Ha ha, very funny,"answered Hazel with a grin on her face. "So, you ready for that killer test 's giving us?"

"Aww wait, you mean that that test was today?" Emily grimaced.

"Ya, unfortunately for all of us students**," **came Hazel's reply,

"Did you study?"

"Me? Study? Ha! As if I'd sink so low."scoffed Emily in reply.

"At least she's our only test today,"continued Hazel, "all the other teachers know better than too test us on Mondays, everybody's so tired, they wouldn't notice if there was a wild grizzly bear sitting at one of the desks."

"True, true,"answered Emily. The two girls continued to discuss scenarios of chaos in the classrooms, many involving missing teachers.

Emily and Hazel walked lethargically off of the bus behind a crowd of other kids discussing their weekend and how evil it was that they had to go to school on Mondays.

"So,"said Emily, "what is that Calculus test on anyways?"

"I'm not completely sure,"pondered Hazel, "though I think it has something too do with finding the derivative and normal line."

"Oh, good,"answered Emily, relieved, "I thought it was over something hard, like tangents or something."

"Nope!"replied Hazel, "just boring old lines and graphs. Ya know I'm beginning to wonder what we'll ever use this stuff for. I mean, sure they say we HAVE to know it and all, but when will we ever really use it?"

"So true,"came Emily's forlorn reply. "When will we ever have to know to graph (9, 4), (5, -3) on an x-axis in our lives?"

"Ya**," **sighed Hazel. Then a lull of silence snaked into their conversation as they dodged, and pushed, and 'excuse me'd' their way through the hallway and down the stairs. They stopped for a second and the crowd of mixed high-schooler's parted around them and went down the monotonous long hallway with its dim lighting and dull colors.

"I can't believe they actually put a Math Class in this hallway; it's already so dreary and depressing it makes you want to commit suicide,"monotoned Emily while waving her hand, "the math is just adding to that atmosphere. I'm surprised that nobody's splashed a bucket of orange paint all over it or something."

"Ya,"added Hazel, adjusting her backpack, "I think that should be a project for Art Club. To add some life to this barren waste land of attempted learning."

"That would be a very interesting project," agreed Emily, "but sadly, that's also the reason why Dr. Manca hasn't approved of it, because it would be so good for our morale, we might start to prank him again."

"Ya,"said Hazel, "he couldn't have that, but remember the time when James and Ariel switched out his hair gel for hot pink dye?"

"And he walked around for half the day before he realized it?"Added Emily.

"Ya!"Laughed Hazel, "that was hilarious!"Their loud laughs earned them several stares and temporary silence in the hall around them. "Lets get to class before we're late**," **said Hazel glumly when she saw the time on the clock over their heads.

"Oh crud!"Emily exclaimed when she saw the time as well; " would kill us if we were late on a test day!"

The two juniors practically ran down the hallways that were almost cleared. They slid into their seats just as the bell rang. The girls both sighed in relief.

"Quiet class!"Yelled , achieving immediate silence over the class of conversing sophomores. "Talking is something to be done in the hallway. Not in my class. Now take out a pencil and a sheet of paper; I'm going to pass your tests out. And I expect silence for the remainder of the period."Then she passed out the test and went and sat down at her desk offering a smoldering glare for any who looked at her.

Just looking at the test made Hazel feel depressed. _Aw man, _she thought, _why does she have to give us a three-page test on a Monday? It just isn't right. Oh well, I mise as well get started on this monster. It's not going to do itself. No matter how much I would like it to. _So she picked up her pencil and started on problem one.

But what she didn't know as she struggled with the problems was that someone really was watching her.

* * *

"Not much longer now," the god whispered quietly to himself chuckling, "not much longer."

* * *

"So, how do you think you did on the test?"Asked Emily to Hazel.

"Well, I _think _I did well, but then again, you can never really tell. I've thought that I'd gotten a perfect score before, and then I got my test back and I had gotten a C-." Said Hazel, "How do you think you did?"

"I think I did okay, but I'd be surprised if I got a higher score than a B."

After that the day flew by for Hazel. Emily's chatter fell meaninglessly on her ears, and she could barely keep up with what she was saying. Where she would usually add a witty remark, she just said 'Ya' or 'cool'. She was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to really pay attention in class.

Even in art, which was her favorite. And in orchestra where she would usually be completely absorbed in the music as a section leader should be, she didn't even hear her own playing, or remember to reprimand the rest of the section with her 'scary face' when a blaring error was played.

It was like there was something she was forgetting, something important.

She just couldn't let it go. It felt like she had it several times but then just as she was about to remember what it was, it slipped away again leaving her grasping at thin air.

Before she knew it, she was running down a well-worn path away from her house. She didn't even remember when school had ended, or riding the bus home, or changing clothes. Aside from the algebra II test that morning, she couldn't remember a single thing she had done that day.

_This is odd, _she thought to herself as she continued to run along the trail and up a hill, _I'm usually not the __**most **__observant person, and sometimes I can't remember walking to class, but that's two minutes. And I just spaced out for over six hours. Can't remember ever doing that before. Six hours. Wow that's a long time. _After that, she just ran for a while without thinking until she came up to the old gnarled oak tree where she had woken up a week ago in the rain. She stopped for a moment at its roots and took the necklace that she had found there from around her neck.

She turned it in the light of the sun behind her back, making the dark emerald sparkle in the sunrays. _Oh, where did you come from? _She thought, frustrated, _who do you belong to? Is it that man I saw? Is he your owner? And if he were, why on earth would he leave something as precious as you just lying around? He didn't lose you, I know that much at least, or he would have come back to look for you since then. _"Oh, who is your owner?"She said aloud, growing more and more frustrated. "If only I knew. Oh great, look at me, I'm reduced to talking to a necklace. This is pathetic. I better just keep running."

So she continued on with her run, being chewed up inside with curiosity the whole way. She couldn't help but think about the necklace. It was almost a relief to her when her feet finally brought her home again. Usually at this point, she changed, took a shower and watched TV. But today for some reason she just couldn't. She just had to go back. But no! _No!_ She wouldn't give in today. Hazel would stay inside if she had to drop Zane in a vat of toxic waste and then make him tie her down. She would stay inside. So she crashed onto the couch and gritted her teeth.

Though she did not know it, at that same moment a slightly battered black car pulled up to her long driveway and began the assent. When it came to the top, a man of medium height with slicked-back black hair and a neat yellow pinstriped suit stepped out and walked to the door. _Showtime_, he thought, fixing his collar.


	3. run for the hillsthe bad salesman

Disclaimer: I wish, but I own nothing but Hazel, Matt, Harriet and Emily. Sorry this chapter took so long, I've been busy with finals and haven't had time to update. Enjoy!

After Hazel had been stewing in her misery and frustration for a minute, the doorbell rang. _Well…_thought Hazel, she usually didn't answer the door but what the heck! She way just _dying _to slam the door in some poor salesman's face. Let 'er at 'im!

The salesman rang the doorbell and a few seconds later it was answered by a slight teenage girl with short brunette hair and glowering green-hazel eyes that slightly scared him, which was no small feat.

Right as he opened his mouth from his oversized smile to start his sales pitch and worm his way into the house, she yelled, "Get your ash tray offa my land you miserable piece of French toast!" and slammed the door right in his astounded face!

He just stood there in amazement mouth agape. Nobody had talked to him like that (at least, that's what he thought, he really wasn't sure what she had said) for over five hundred years!

Wow. Just…wow. What a girl. What a… he didn't even know the right word to describe her, girl.

"Well", said Hazel happily after she slammed the door, "that was rather satisfying," and she went back skipping to sit on the couch, her energy expelled.

"Time for some TV." she said, picking up the remote. "I'm thinking Torchwood, I need something good and violent right now." As she sat there, watching the show containing great smiles, violent aliens and computers, the 'poor salesman' was sitting in his car, fuming, and silently formulating a new plan.

* * *

Hazel was walking home from school and enjoying the lovely weather, it was only sixty and she wanted to make it last as long as possible.

She was leisurely strolling home and was about halfway there when an sharp-angled black car drove by, at least that's what she thought it was going to do (she hated passing traffic on the small country road, it made her nervous). But then it stopped a mere twenty feet behind her and a man in a black leather jacket and a leather shirt, with strangely spiked hair got out and began to briskly walk towards her.

The minute that car had begun to slow down, Hazels mind had gone on red alert, though she had tried to hide it.

That strange man actually _getting out_and walking towards her had been the last straw. "Spiky weirdo!" Hazel yelled over her shoulder taking frantically off.

Being a person that ran every day; surely she could outrun this freak. Hazel looked over her shoulder for a second and saw that the man was no longer behind her. She breathed a sigh of relief and was about to stop when she ran into something soft but unyielding and fell flat on her back.

Glad that her unwieldy backpack had cushioned her fall, she looked up to see what she had run into. She froze for a moment in fear, it was the weirdo! _Run!_ yelled her brain, though something inside her thought otherwise. Why did this man seem so familiar?

She decided to ignore it.

The 'wierdo' as she called him looked down at her and actually felt a little sorry; maybe he shouldn't have scared the girl this much. Her earth green eyes looked up at him, wide with fright.

_Oh all right,_ he thought with a sigh, he'd do his good deed for the year and tell her who he was. "Girl- ouff!" he ended up saying because she had gotten to her feet surprisingly quickly and nailed him in the gut with her backpack.

_How can they survive carrying these things around all the time? _he thought as he fell to the ground, gasping _this thing must weigh a hundred pounds! This is the __last__ time I take pity on a human!_

"Haha!" she laughed back at him as she made her speedy getaway. She didn't know how he had caught up on her so fast before, but with a history, pre calc. book _and_ a months worth of papers and junk laying on his chest, he was down for the count. She ran, quite literally, for the hills, she knew them better than anyone, and once inside them not a person existed who could find her.

Hazel settled down in her typical hiding place-a grassy hole in the side of a hill that even she, being slight, could barely fit into.

The hole itself was spacious enough, but the entrance was tiny. There was no way in heck that this man would be able to find her, and even if he did, there's no way he could fit in. Hazel stretched out and settled in with a smirk. She was safe.

After the girl disappeared behind the hills, the strange man lay there for a minute, thoroughly winded, and contemplated his next move. She might have had a head start, but there was nowhere she could possibly go in those exposed, treeless, hills that he could not find her. With some effort he pushed the heavy backpack off his chest and walked into the hills to get her.

Hazel had been lying in her grassy hideaway for about five minutes when she saw legs in front of her hole. Instantly she froze, he must not find her. Suddenly she heard him speak to himself, "ugh, where are you girl? I'm getting tired of this. I will find you!" _Keep dreaming! _thought Hazel jeeringly. She almost burst out laughing. How funny was this!

He was calling and searching virtually every place but the one where she actually was. Too bad for him. About another twenty minutes had passed when she heard him walking around by her again.

He sounded tired. Hazel snickered quietly, this was just too funny! All of a sudden it was pitch black inside her hideout. _Something must be blocking the light _she thought.

But when she looked up she froze in fear.

The thing blocking the light was the weirdo's head. "Well, well, well," he chuckled, "here we are at last."

"Ha!" Hazel snorted, feigning confidence, "like you could get in here, you're _way _too big to fit." she said, scooting out of his reach, just in case.

"I might be too big to fit in," he said smiling, "but you're not too big to come out."

"Tch!" she snorted gracelessly, "and what exactly makes you think that I would do that?"

"Oh, I'm sure you will have no choice," he said back, hooking his arms on the inside of the entrance hole.

"What do you mean?" Hazel asked, starting to get comfortable in the fact that he was out there, she was in there and absolutely nothing was going to change.

"Look," said Wierdo, removing his arms from the sides of the hole to make a point, "I don't think you really understand. I'm a _god_. I can shape time. I can-" here he gave a little laugh. "I can _twist reality_. You really don't want to mess with me."

"Tch!" she snorted again, not willing to take the bait. "Ya right!" and to show what she thought of him, she gathered momentum and planted a firm kick right in the middle of his chest.

He made no sound as he fell backwards onto the grass behind him. Only a slight 'ouff' as he hit the ground. Hazel laughed quietly at his injured dignity. He stood up very fast and quickly dusted himself off. There would be no murder reports on the news tonight Hazel now knew. This idiot couldn't hurt a fly even if he wanted to. But even now as she looked at his blazing light brown eyes, she couldn't possible take him seriously. His lordly air was just too funny for that.

He glared at her. "Okay, now you've really done it!" he raged, "You're going to come out of that hole even if it kills me!"

"And how exactly is that twinkle toes?" Hazel questioned, still repressing the overwhelming urge to laugh. While she was still laughing inside, he suddenly, oh how to describe it? He jumped forward and _became thinner _for just a split second. Before Hazel was even aware of what was happening, he was inside the hole with her.

Sitting there now, too startled to speak with twinkle toes glaring at her evilly with pale brown eyes, she wasn't so sure that the local news station wouldn't have a little something extra to add.

"Heh, heh," she laughed nervously, "hello." He just continued to glare at her, almost like he was enjoying it. Her eyes flicked to the open hole, just for a second, and so did his. He grinned at her mischievously. Hazel began to feel claustrophobic, the warm earth seeming to close in around her, suffocating her. She panicked and made a sudden dodge for the exit. Twinkle toes grabbed her arm and roughly pulled her back in.

"Now I will have no more of that." He stated to her frankly. As an afterthought he added, "My name is Loki, just so you know, I will have no more of this 'twinkle toes' business. That's no way to treat a god." Slowly realizing that he wasn't going to harm her, Hazel regained her comebacks.

"Well," she started sarcastically, "this is a real nice way to treat a human."

"Ha!" twink-Loki laughed, picking a tuft of grass off his chest and folding his arms behind his head, "don't make me bring up the Middle Ages! You little softies have it easy!"

"Before we bring out the trash talk, I want to ask a question so my poor little human brain doesn't get anymore confused than it already is. _Who are you? _And why are you here?" she asked, her head tilted to one side in curiosity.

"Well, well," he laughed sarcastically, "don't we recover fast?"

"What do you want?" asked Hazel again. "I can do this all day."

"Do you have any idea," said Loki suddenly, quietly looking into her green eyes, his face serious, "do you have any _idea_ how boring it is to be in one room all day and have nothing to do but watch the world below? How insufferably _boring _it is? I am Loki, the god of Mischief! And all I can do every day is sit in that room and watch your pitiful little human lives unfold. It's like watching a soap opera! Except this one never ends. _It never ends_."

"Wow," said Hazel, sufficiently awed. "That really sucks. I'm sorry. A bit dramatic though."

"As I was saying before I got _interrupted_," pouted Loki, shooting a glare a Hazel, "I was bored, and I was watching all the boring little human lives go by when I came across you. You are the strangest, most random…enigma of a human being that I have come across in over three hundred years. And also the purest."

Loki said this sincerely, looking her right in the eyes. She looked back at him, extremely flattered. "What?" Hazel asked half wishing this handsome stranger would say it again.

Loki paused for a moment and then said, "Every other person that I have ever seen, and that is a lot believe me, always has some under the table hidden motive for what they do. Everyone has some deep dark secret that they don't want anyone to know, some little hidden thing. Now you, Hazel, have none of this. You are simply you."

"Wow Loki," Hazel said in awe. Nobody had ever said anything like that about her before. She kind of liked it.

"Now my question was if you wanted to come with me to visit Valhalla. You wouldn't have to worry about aging, however long you stay with us, the gods, you will be exactly the same age and not a second will have passed when you wish to return."

Hazel's body suddenly felt as if it were on fire. _Valhalla?_ she thought, _really? I…I can't believe it. An opportunity to live with __**gods**__. But is he really a god? Though that going through the hole trick was rather convincing, and how else could he have found me? No one else ever has. Ever. Okay. I think I'll say yes. At least it will let me find out if this 'Valhalla' really is a real place or not. If said place really does exist, I wonder what it looks like. Oh no, he's staring at me, I better give my answer. _"Yes," she answered, thinking that she should have an air conditioner installed.

Boy was she hot.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Pretty please review so I know what you think!


	4. Home of the Gods

Disclaimer: I wish, but I own nothing but Hazel, Matt, Harriet and Emily. I found this story again and thought I'd dust it off and update it. Hope you like it!

"Yes," she answered.

"Yes?" Loki repeated, his fall-brown eyes crinkling in confusion. "You would really leave everything you know here to liv-ahem!" He coughed into the crook of his leather-covered arm.

Hazel eyed him suspiciously. "Yes?" She drummed her fingers mockingly on her leg. "Is the God of Mischief having a little trouble speaking?"

"Me?" Said god stuttered, "Never. Now, as I was saying before you so _rudely _interrupted me, you would truly leave your life here to visit me? Wouldn't you miss your little human friends and family and the like? Humans do have silly emotions like that, don't they?"

Hazel laughed, "I guess you haven't observed enough "little humans" because I have no problem with that. It's not that I don't like Emily and my parents, I like them very much. I've just never felt like I quite belonged with them. That's why I run so much, it makes the rest of the world seen a little farther away." She bit her lip and stared out of the hole, attempting to put words to her thoughts. "What I'm trying to say is, when you showed up, it felt right. I know I slammed the door in your face when you came to my house earlier (that was really creepy by the way, don't do it again) but when I saw you, something clicked. If felt _right_."

Loki pursed his lips, "if it felt so right, then why did you run from me earlier? I almost felt a little insulted."

"You did kind of set yourself up for that one," Hazel shook her head. "You can't just pull up beside a girl who's had even a whiff of the city in a black car! The "rape" alarm starts going off, and whatever I do after that I am not in any way responsible for. However cute the man that gets out of the car might be, the alarm goes off all the same."

Loki had failed to hear anything after 'cute.' _This is going better than I expected_, he thought to himself. "I guess I can forgive you, then. Let's get out of this hole, if I wasn't a god I wouldn't have even been able to fit in here." He shifted again and a second later was kneeling on the grass outside, offering his hand to Hazel. "Please don't kick me in the chest this time."

_Wow_, she thought. _He's a god and a gentleman. I could do worse._ She smiled coyly and raised a foot mockingly before accepting his hand. "Thanks." He must have used his powers on her, because a second later she was standing beside him in the open. It felt a little disconcerting, like vertigo. "Give me a little warning next time, huh? I feel like a rabbit that just got pulled out of a hat."

The god smiled and laughed, showing straight white teeth, "If you still want to visit Valhalla, you'll most likely experience much stranger things than that, Hazel. And that's if my family takes a liking to you."

Hazel grimaced, "I hadn't thought of anyone else, but I guess if one god is real the rest must be as well."

"They are mostly involved in their own affairs, Thor is the only one we are likely to run into. He always liked stopping by to torment me in my prison. He probably doesn't know that Father (that's Odin) freed me yet." Loki smiled at the thought.

"Well, would you like to get going? The sooner we leave the sooner you can meet Odin and we can be gone."

"How exactly does one get to Valhalla?" Hazel questioned. "A puff of smoke? A snap? A flying carpet? A well-trained dragon?"

Loki laughed, his eyes crinkling as he shook his head at her. "Where did you get those ridiculous ideas? Flying carpets and dragons? Like anyone has managed to train a dragon well enough to carry passengers. For me, it's incredibly easy. I just focus on my quarters and I'm there. As for you, just take my hand."

He extended his hand to Hazel, smiling reassuringly. She eyed it with the coy look of a cat making a decision. _Should I? _She wondered, _how do I know I can trust him? He is the trickster god after all. How do I know what will really happen if I go with him?_

Loki huffed impatiently, "Well? Do you want to go or don't you?"

Hazel looked again at his outstretched hand, it looked innocent enough. She noticed his skin was rather pale. He had long fingers too. In a second she made a decision. "Yes, I want to go." With that, she took his hand. Before everything changed, her last thought was, _his hand is warm. _

The world seemed to melt before her eyes. All of the colors and shapes and textures blended and crammed together until they united in a single line across the horizon. For a second, everything was held in that line, and the rest was darkness and they seemed to float in the air. Then the line exploded and jets of color burst from it and became shapes, they became a wood floor and painted walls and a bed and a dresser and a wardrobe. All of this happened before Hazel had time to blink. Before she could process the change, they were standing in what looked to be a large bedroom.

The first thing she noticed was the smooth wooden floor that was solid and unyielding under feet. In front of them was a large bed, covered with an elegant black duvet that had a surface streaked with silver lines that made the black seem almost gentle. The rest of the room was simple, with a tall black wardrobe and dresser. Behind them in a corner was a black desk and padded chair that was covered with papers. On the desk sat the most interesting thing in the room, a wide and shallow green bowl that was filled with a liquid that shimmered and rippled with hidden lights.

Loki turned his spiked head to Hazel, "What do you think? It isn't much, but this is where I spend the last 500 or so years while I was being punished."

Hazel simply stared blankly, turning in a circle to take in the new place. Her mouth opened and she laughed softly, unable to think of anything to say. "I never thought I'd see another dimension." She said quietly, "I always thought if I left Earth it would be in the TARDIS or something like that, not with a god."

Loki smiled, his head growing a little larger.

"But I have to admit, this isn't quite what I was expecting. It seems so…_ordinary_."

"What?!" He exclaimed, his head deflating to its normal size, "You want extraordinary? I'll give you extraordinary! Come with me!" Loki grabbed ahold of her hand and pulled her towards the door, missing the red tinge on her cheeks. He led them through a sitting room, though they sped through it so fast the only impression Hazel got was one of empty space. They came to a door and Loki threw it open and, grabbing her shoulders, thrust her outside. "As you mortals say, check that out!"

Now she had plenty of time to gape at her new surroundings, and suddenly time lost all meaning. Outside, the house looked out on a vast ocean that twinkled and rolled in a way that no ocean on earth ever had, and the waves caressed a beach of white sand so fine it looked like a gigantic white blanket had been thrown in between the ocean and the grass. And the grass, that part was almost more impressive than the ocean. Rolling emerald hills were peppered by periodic oak trees that lent shade to a flowing stream that had the same twinkle to it that the ocean did.

Loki smiled smugly, "What do you say to that, sweetheart?"

_It's the most beautiful thing I've seen in my life_, she thought. "It's alright, I guess. If you like vast oceans and rolling hills and stuff like that."

He smirked at her again, his eyes crinkling in that adorable way.

_Wait, adorable? When did I start thinking that? _"You think you're pretty slick, don't you twinkle toes?" Hazel taunted him.

He laughed again, "I don't think, sweetheart, I know. I _am _a god."

"We'll see," she smirked at him. "Let's decide with a contest, running and swimming. Whoever kicks you-I mean, the most butt wins."

"What?!" Loki exclaimed. "I don't have to prove anything to you. This is _my _home after all. There's no question of who would win."

"Or is there?" Hazel winked cheekily at his surprised face before dashing off, "Whoever gets to that huge oak first is the first winner!"

Loki balked for a second before racing after her, "Hey! This isn't fair! You got a head start!"

_Sucker, _she thought, _for a god he's awfully naïve. _"Eat my metaphorical dust, 'god of mischief!'"

Hazel thought she was doing pretty well, the first time she looked back he was a good 10 yards behind her, after all, he wasn't the god of running. But suddenly she was thrown off her feet by something huge and furry, the next thing she knew she was lying face-down in the soft grass while a giant green panther was bounding the last few feet to the oak tree. She lay in the grass, balking.

"Hey! No shape-shifting, that isn't in the rules!"

The panther licked one of its huge paws smugly, "You never specified how I could run. If I remember correctly, _you_ were the one to get a head start on _me_. This was perfectly legal."

"Bah humbug." Hazel buried her head in the grass and ignored him completely. But it soon became hard to ignore the very human finger that was poking her in the back of the head. "Stop it, you big green…thing."

"Not until you get up. There's still another competition for me to beat you at." Hazel could hear the smug satisfaction in his smooth voice and she got a devious idea.

She rolled over on her back and stared at him kneeling over her, his leather jacket lying folded on the ground. "I'll give you a competition!" With that she grabbed ahold of his arms and flipped him so her was on his back beside her. "How's that for competition, Loki?" She grinned smugly down at him. "You think you have a chance to pin me?"

She just had time to see a fire light in his fall-brown eyes before it was her who was pinned underneath him. _Man, he's close. I didn't sign up for this. _He leaned over her and whispered in her ear, "You still think you have a chance?" His breath tickled her ear and she squirmed.

"You'll never beat me, you traitorous little…" Hazel trailed off, putting her energy to better use fighting against his iron grip. The more she fought, the more he fought back. Just when she thought was almost free, he lazily gripped her wrists and pinned them over her head, leaving her with no avenue for escape. He had her legs pinned with his, and the more she twisted and struggled, the more futile she realized it was. _Great, _she sighed, _great_. As she grudgingly gave up and looked at him again, she suddenly realized how close they were. She could feel the heat from him pressing against her, and she looked wordlessly into his pale eyes. He looked back, mesmerized, and the grip on her wrists and lets lessened.

Hazel took the opportunity and flipped them so she was the one pinning him. "Ha!" She exclaimed. "Who's the top god now?" Loki thrashed fiercely and she struggled to keep her grip on his wrists and legs, but it wasn't easy. "Give up!" She covered as much of his body with hers as she could, trying to pin him through sheer determination. Suddenly her eyes grew wide as she realized the position she was in, she was pressed against a part of him that she'd never felt on a man before. Loki seemed to notice it at the same time as she did, and he stopped struggling.

He looked at her with a serious expression, "Why…hello, sweetheart. I didn't realize you liked me so much."

I hope you all enjoyed the update. If you have the time, a review would be much appreciated.


	5. Author's Note-sorry!

Author's Note:

Sorry for the long pause between updates! I have had an extremely busy year and finals are coming up. I promise to have another chapter updated by 20-5-13. Thanks for your patience!


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